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Bee hive vase (vase ruche no. 1)
Production: Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
Soft-paste porcelain beehive vase and cover, decorated with gilding
Soft-paste porcelain vase and cover, moulded, glazed, and gilded, with a probably hard-paste porcelain base, glazed, and gilded. The vase is in the shape of a slender beehive made of wickerwork, pierced at the base The cover is moulded to resemble thatch and has a ring handle composed of a doubled over sheaf of corn, tied at the junction with the cover, so that ears of corn radiate from it. Two of each group of three vertical osiers on the vase, the corn stalks and the edges of the thatch on the cover are gilded. The vase stands on a separate square base, decorated with gold scrolls round the outer edges, to which it is attached by bolts. One of a pair with C.3.1 & A-1955
History note: Posibly Baudin Collection; sold Paris, 12-13 January 1843, lot 131, 'Deux vases a ruche, imitation de Saxe'. Collection of M. Lion of Paris from whom was purchased by Mr Cecil Gould; purchased for £450 and given by The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum, June 1955
Given by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Height: 24.7 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1955-05-26) by The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
18th Century, Mid#
Circa
1768
CE
-
1769
CE
This rare model was the first of two beehive-shaped ornamental vases produced by Sèvres. The plaster model (without a base) was no. 25 in the 1814 inventory of work 1740-80, and was illustrated by Albert Troude as ‘vase ruche, no. 1’. On accession this vase and its pair (C.3.2 & A-1955) were attributed to Vincennes, but this is not supported by the only documentary records so far found for them by Tamara Préaud, the archivist at Sèvres, which were in 1769 and 1775. The inventory of stock taken on 1 January 1769 listed two vases and their bases in the biscuit ready for glazing, valued at 48 livres each. Four 'vase ruche' were recorded as having fired successfully in the 'Etat de défournement de Couverte du 1er Avril 1769', under moulded pieces (Bibl. d’Institut de France MS 5675, p. 44).This suggests that two were made between 1 January and 1 April. In December 1769 a pair were recorded in the sale's records as bought by the duc de Praslin for 240 livres each. (Vy 4 fol. 193), which might have been the Fitzwilliam's pair. Two vases russe in the white at 48 livres were listed in the inventory of 1 January 1774 and two were sold to a Madame Luillier on 7 August 1775 for 120 livres each (Vy5, 23).
Base
composed of
hard-paste porcelain
( probably)
glaze
Height 5.1 cm
Body And Cover
composed of
lead-glaze
soft-paste porcelain
Decoration
composed of
gold
Vase And Cover
Moulding : Soft-paste porcelain vase with (probably) a hard-paste porcelain base, with moulded cover and gilded decoration.
Accession number: C.3.2 & A-1955
Primary reference Number: 93540
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Bee hive vase (vase ruche no. 1)" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/93540 Accessed: 2024-12-22 23:19:35
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/93540
|title=Bee hive vase (vase ruche no. 1)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 23:19:35|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-93540
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<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Bee hive vase (vase ruche no. 1)</figcaption>
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